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Kansas child adoptions on two-year upswing

Gina Meier-Hummel is the director of prevention and protection services at the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

Dotty Estes’ childhood ambition was to be a mother.

In that role as an adult, the North Topeka woman gave birth to four, completed adoption of three, is preparing to adopt two more and opened her home to kids in the state's foster care system. The house is a safe haven for children who experienced life's challenges at tender ages.

"In the long run," Estes said, "I get just as much out of this as the kids. It is so rewarding."

Her household is a model held up by the Kansas Department for Children and Families, which brought new emphasis in the past two years to promotion of public adoption in Kansas.

Initial results are promising with 777 finalized adoptions in the 2012 fiscal year ending in June. The 2011 year total was 761 state adoptions. Adoptions reached a high of 816 in 2009, before falling to 721 in 2010.

During the past five years, an average of 879 children in state custody have been eligible for adoption. An average of 757 had adoptions finalized in state court.

Gov. Sam Brownback, whose family adopted a boy and girl, made escalation in public adoptions a priority. He said the endeavor hadn’t yet provided "forever families" for all in need.

"Adoption is a beautiful example of the power of family to change the course of a child's life," the governor said. "All children deserve to grow up with parents who love them and are committed to them."

Gina Meier-Hummel, director of prevention and protection services at the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said about 900 children were at some stage of having parental rights terminated so they would begin moving through the adoption process. Most of these kids have a foster parent or relative who intends to adopt them.

Nearly 400 don’t have an adoptive relationship and live with anxiety driven by uncertainty, she said.

"They don't know necessarily where they're going to sleep tomorrow, or where they're going to live in five years or who their parents are going to be,” Meier-Hummel said.

Meier-Hummel said the state's primary objective was to return children to biological families, but abuse and neglect of children does require temporary or permanent separation.

Attempts to reintegrate children in the home are sometimes sidetracked by persistent behavior detrimental to kids.

"You can imagine the trauma that occurs from being removed from your family," she said. "The children who come into the (state) secretary's care are in need of protection."

Children available for adoption through the state come from varied background, circumstance, race and ethnicity. Some have complicated medical, physical or emotional issues requiring care. Others are part of sibling groups that want to stay together as part of a new family.

Adoptions through the state of Kansas cost little or nothing, while state officials say a private adoption can cost upwards of $30,000. Kansas children aren’t eligible for adoption unless the court has terminated parental rights. Children adopted after age 16 from foster care are eligible for free tuition at any state university, community college or vocational school.

There is no provision in Kansas law hindering adoptions by single adults or gay couples, Meier-Hummel said.

"There's not a perfect size or shape of any adoptive family. It's really based on who has the heart to do this work and wants to take someone into their home, love them and care for them," she said.

"We do believe there is an adoptive home out there for every waiting child. It's a matter of us finding that family."

Estes, who drives a 15-passenger van to accommodate her unusually large and diverse family, said she had never differentiated between the biological and adopted children in her home.